Abstract

When I was born 40 years ago after a normal pregnancy and delivery, no one expected anything other than a perfect baby. Fingers and toes were duly counted and found to be all present and correct. It was only the next day when my mother was bathing me that she noticed a lump on my back just above the natal cleft. This was associated with a small hairy patch and dimple. ‘Not to worry dear, baby just has a birthmark,’ were the midwife’s reassuring comments to my mother’s anxious enquiries.

I am led to believe that I walked, talked and was potty trained at the usual times with no undue concern and have always taken the same size shoe on both feet. I only became aware that I was different from other children when I started school. No one else had a hairy lump on his or her back and